Import and export: dbt MetricFlow and OSI

Import and export: dbt MetricFlow and OSIBring dbt MetricFlow semantic models and metrics, or an Apache Ossie (OSI) model, into the semantic layer, and export your definitions to dbt YAML or OSI — what maps to what, what is left out and why, the safety checks, the lossless OSI round trip and a worked example. If your organisation already describes its metrics in dbt or in the Open Semantic Interchange (OSI, now developed as Apache Ossie), you do not have to type them again. The import converts them into native semantic objects — datasets, dimensions, joins, measures and calculated members, including time-window members — that then work everywhere a governed metric works. The export goes the other way, so the same definitions can be used by dbt or by another OSI tool.

Where to find it

Settings → Settings → Set / Restore → Semantic objects → Import dbt / OSI…
Settings → Settings → Set / Restore → Semantic objects → Export dbt / OSI

What this page covers

What can be imported
Import a dbt project
How each part maps
What is left out of an import, and why
Safety
Export to dbt or OSI
Worked example
Troubleshooting

Settings and controls documented

dbt MetricFlow
Apache Ossie / OSI
semantic model
dimension (categorical)
dimension (time)
foreign entity → primary entity
measure (sum, count, count_distinct, average, min, max)
simple metric
ratio metric
derived metric
cumulative metric (window, grain_to_date, or all time)
derived metric with offset_window
description, label
Conversion metrics
offset_to_grain
A filter on a cumulative metric or on a derived metric's input
A filter that names another model's dimension, or other Jinja
A window whose grain has no level on the target engine
An OSI metric with no expression in a usable dialect, no dataset, or a column outside every aggregate
OSI 0.2 / 0.1
orders, customers
order_date (Year / Quarter / Month / Day), status, segment
orders → customers
revenue (labelled Revenue), order_count
completed_revenue
orders, aov
revenue_ytd
repeat_buyers
These files are neither dbt … nor OSI …
The files mix dbt and OSI documents
These already exist in the other catalog: … Use an id prefix.
The model would not validate with the catalog — nothing can be imported
Everything is already there. Tick "Replace" to update it.

Full page

The full page — procedures and the explanation of every setting — is available to signed-in users.

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